The night of toil; or A familiar account of the labours of the first missionaries in the South Sea islands by the author of the 'Peep of day'

by Favell Lee Mortimer

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1838 edition. ...what a breach had been made in the missionary family! Yet the brethren felt that God had been very gracious to them, in giving them the joy of Pomare's conversion in a time of deep sorrow. It was not so painful to commit a saint to the tomb, as it was delightful to see dead men rising from the grave of sin. The brethren received from Pomare after his departure very different letters from any he had ever written before. In one of these letters he said, "You indeed will be saved, you are become the people of but I may be banished to God may not regard me; I am a wicked Pomare's Penitent Letters. 231 man, and my sins are great, and heaped together." In another letter he said, "I was taken ill about three o'clock on Monday morning last. My affliction is great, but if I can only obtain God's favour before I die, I shall count myself well off. But O! should I die with my sins unpardoned, it will be ill indeed with me. In a third letter Pomare wrote "I continue to pray to God without ceasing. Regardless of other things, I am concerned only that my soul may be saved by Jesus Christ! It is my earnest desire that I may become one of Jehovah's people, and that God may turn away his anger from me, which I deserve for my wickedness, my ignorance of him, and my heaped-up crimes." Some months afterwards Pomare seemed to feel a brighter hope of pardon, for he said in another letter, "I venture with my guilt to Jesus Christ, (though I am not equalled in wickedness, nor equalled in guilt, not equalled in obstinate wickedness and rejection of the truth,) that this very wicked man may be saved by Jehovah Jesus Christ." The missionaries now thought that Pomare must be really converted, for he seemed so much grieved...

100 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2013

About the author

Victorian children’s writer Mrs. Favell Lee Mortimer (born Favell Lee Bevan) was a woman of deep piety--and of even more profound prejudices. Born a Quaker in London in 1802, she converted to Evangelicalism at age 25 and devoted her life to the proper religious development of children, a task that involved extolling the virtues of Protestantism and denouncing as corrupt or evil every other form of faith and practice.